Greetings from Idaho

First off, I am over 70 years of age. I fancy myself as a craftsman and a weapons enthusiast. After building and mastering each discipline (in my mind, anyway) curiosity ebbs and I find something new. I have moved through building bench rest rifles, black powder 'buffalo' rifles and flintlock 'Kentucky' rifles. I just got a 'wild hair' to check out crossbows. In my teen years I was very active with a recurve bow but old-age arthritis limits such activities anymore. I am considering building a crossbow but I am not interested in commercial designs.To prove myself marginally acceptable to be here I started to post a picture of my latest flintlock longrifle but as some websites frown an off-topic posts I didn't.I am going to study and watch, probably from the bleachers, and may utter some questions that may sound shallow but keep in mind I AM NEW TO ALL OF THIS.Any words of wisdom will be readily accepted. I was once told, "NEVER get into benchrest rifle shooting, it WILL drive you nuts!" I failed to heed the warning and that is part of what's wrong with me

Welcome Tinker, I too am some what new to making crossbows myself. I am currently in the middle of building a medieval crossbow that if all goes well I will use for hunting this fall. I have made a stock for my excalibur. It is my first attempt.

You could begin your journey to crossbow making by reading through some of my articles. A good starting point is the designing crossbows article which covers various design topics. Please don't hesitate to ask for help either - there are plenty of knowledgeable people in this forum.

I think a similar warning goes for crossbows, so you've hit jackpot twice my friend. It is a very interesting weapon though, combining gunsmithing and traditional archery it makes one hell of a paradox.

Ask whatever you need help with, as basileus said - guys and girls here are great!

PS. Very interesting that you mention flintlocks and such...My friend is currently building a combination wheel-lock pistol/crossbow...he keeps it quite due to not having much information on the mechanism, but all in all it's wicked stuff and might be of interest to you >>>Link